Shift to Low-Def TV by Older Guys ?

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by compucat

I would prefer to stick to tube color sets from now on. At least I know I can service them. What's the point of finding a great flat panels TV only to have to throw it out in a few years because parts are not available.

Amen to that. I already have two friends that want me to fix their fairly new flat panel TV's. Even though I told them I wasn't very interested; they want me to check them anyway. One of these sets was replaced under warranty by the mfg. They didn't wan't to claim the old one. The other one was given to the guy by a friend when it died. They have not actually made their way over here, and, I really hope they don't. I've also heard of other people having problems with these sets and not being able to get parts. All I know is that if I pay several thousand $$ for a TV; then, that sucker better work from now on. Yet, there's one of the electronic stores around here claiming that the new flat panel TV's are designed to last 15 to 25 years. All that store is doing is trying to suck people into buying these high priced sets. It's funny that there are plenty of regular old TV's that have long passed that mark and are still going.

I too will try to keep my old sets going. At least the parts are big enough to see and often easier to obtain than the speciallized parts often found in newer TV's.

Originally Posted by compucat

I have on occasion adjusted one set in a store display to have correct color and contrast settings. Once I had the set looking good, id did then appear weak and washed out compared to the adjacent sets. Most of the flat panel sets I have seen do not look very good at all and are never adjusted correctly at the store. Perhaps at home they would look better but I just have no interest in buying one. I would prefer to stick to tube color sets from now on. At least I know I can service them. What's the point of finding a great flat panels TV only to have to throw it out in a few years because parts are not available.

That why I settled on a Sharp Aquos. It was the only LCD set I found that I could actually buy replacement backlight lamps for after the originals go too dim to be useful to light up the LCD screen. I can just take the back off and replace them myself. It's also the reason I chose it over a limited-life plasma screen. Otherwise, the internal electronics are just as serviceable as any standard set and if I bust the LCD screen, well, I'd be just as screwed as if I busted a large CRT. New TV time...

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

It could very well happen. Only time will tell. I'm not even close to 50 and I plan to watch SD sets as long as I can.

Me too, and I'm 41.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Duane

I have a high def CRT RP and the images it produces in HD is stunning.LCDs,DLPs and the like just do not look normal to me either.There's something about the image that looks phony..cannot describe it in words.I don't think it's our age or our eyes.They just look artificial.

Agreed, it seem the picture I get on my 1982 Zenith is much better than I have seen on any HDTV.

[Cleve]

Originally Posted by 240sx4u

God, analog vs. digital debate finally crosses into video lines LOL.

IMO with color and everything set correctly on my DLP the picture walks all over my analog sets.

I made the switch to plasma just over one year ago - I would NEVER go back. Watching a standard definition 19" or 25" tv is almost torturous now.

[Richard D]

Copy, "Otherwise, the internal electronics are just as serviceable as any standard set"
When was the last time you tried to repair a set with surface mount devices, even when you can find the parts and have a $1,600.00 solder station the board will get damaged or the smd several microns away will go bad. Then you try to buy the whole board from the overseas manufacturer and if available it is half the cost of the TV. Yes, I am old and grumpy.
Richard

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by Richard D

Copy, "Otherwise, the internal electronics are just as serviceable as any standard set"
When was the last time you tried to repair a set with surface mount devices, even when you can find the parts and have a $1,600.00 solder station the board will get damaged or the smd several microns away will go bad. Then you try to buy the whole board from the overseas manufacturer and if available it is half the cost of the TV. Yes, I am old and grumpy.
Richard

I'll have to agree with that. I've cracked open various pieces of modern consumer electronics and I see all the surface mounted parts. There's no way I'm going to try to change a square surface mounted IC with 5 billion legs on it. If I can't fix it with a regular soldering iron, I'm not interested. A friend that runs a local TV shop was telling me that he needed a board for a fairly new large screen LCD set just to learn that it was "NLA" from the factory. All he could do was give the set back to the owner and let them take it up with the company. For me, I'll keep fixing the '50's through the '80's stuff that actually have parts that are more generic in nature and that are easier to see. I know I'm sick of all this modern, throw away, non repairable garbage that has done nothing but shut down American TV plants and close TV shops all over the country.

[sampson159]

i have a 106" dlp infocus hd projector. that is the main set in our home. movies and sporting events look great,however, the dreaded rainbow can creep on you. goldmark discovered this in his early experiments with the cbs color wheel. we also have an lcd phillips that has an absolutely amazing picture. possibly the best i ve ever seen. i am currently watching my chromacolor in the bedroom. dlp,lcd,hd,is remarkable,but i am still enthralled with the picture and quality of this old set. 25vdmp22 that produces beautiful tones and clarity. i watch this set everyday now. cant wait to get back on my roundie.nice picture,just hard to keep going.who needs hd anyway?

[Carmine]

I wish there was a way to capture the picture I get on some of my sets, and display it without having to rely on everybody's computer monitor. I can only say that I've had "non-TV" people rave at this picture displayed on my Over-The-Air NTSC sets, the newest being from 1990. I'm sure that some of it has to do with the relatively smaller screen sizes (27" at the most).

I think the only reason for HDTV has to be increased screen size. I know there are people out there with 32' wide "media" rooms, but I'm in a house that pre-dates TV anyways, so why do I need a 64" screen? Watching TV (or DVDs) just isn't that big a part of my life. I prefer to spend my down time on the internet anyways, and when I do rent a DVD, I'm usually squeezed in with my girlfriend in a less-than-ideal viewing position. I prefer that my TV remains in a box, lest I start getting far too involved with it. I'd jump off the roof if I ever found myself caring about who won some idiotic game show.

But I have seen HD and big-flat-screen sets at restaurants/bars and in friend's houses. For the most part, I think they look lousy. The reds on a team jersey seem to "float" around like it's in another dimension. The artifacts are way too obvious, the video equivalent of audio compression.

Since there is no such thing as a local station/programming anymore, I don't know if I'll care that much when analog goes away.

[Kiwick]

Should a LCD or plasma HDTV ever make it to my home, a strategically placed 8,5Kv zap on the HDMI socket with the electric horse fence HV generator (just after the warranty expires of course) will send the damn thing to the landfill

Only old, big boxy TVs with round cornered CRTs here!

By the way, i'm 28

[VinylHanger]

My only gripe about HD tv's is when I am forced to watch Oprah and she is stretched to fit a widescreen. Other than that I like the new look, but not sure if I would spend the money for a low lifespan piece of equipment for my family to watch the Disney channel and America's Top Model on. I'll keep my 32" CRT and eventually get a projector for the movies and sports. Though I am very wishy washy on all this, as in if a set came to me in a good deal, I would be all over it.

[andy]

I don't think the life span of flat panel TVs is as bad as people expect. If it was, we would be swimming in broken plasma TVs. I still haven't seen a single broken flat panel TV in the trash, at a thrift store, or yard sale.

[YamahaFreak]

Originally Posted by andy

I don't think the life span of flat panel TVs is as bad as people expect. If it was, we would be swimming in broken plasma TVs. I still haven't seen a single broken flat panel TV in the trash, at a thrift store, or yard sale.

You mean like with a cracked screen? Me neither. I once saw a guy at a hamfest trying to unload a 56" plasma for $300. He said it had a bad power supply.

[andy]

Originally Posted by YamahaFreak

You mean like with a cracked screen? Me neither. I once saw a guy at a hamfest trying to unload a 56" plasma for $300. He said it had a bad power supply.

Actually, I mean anything but a cracked screen. A cracked plasma TV is just as worthless as a CRT TV with a broken CRT. I'm talking about ones that died of natural causes, not abuse. $300 for a broken TV, no matter how nice it was, is just nuts.

[VinylHanger]

I have always figured a low life expectancy from talking to the guys who were trying to sell me one. I assume they are better now, but when they first were getting popular I was told by the salesguys that I should buy a home maintenence program because the quality goes down every year and they would need to come to my house and adjust it. Without the program it was like 250 bucks a year. I then asked him if I could expect to get 10-15 years out of one like I do my older sets. He said no way, maybe 5 if I was lucky, this was when you would pay 5-8,000 for one.

I figure they must be better now, but even 14-1600 bucks is a huge investment for me and I would need to get many years out of it, at least 10 or so would be good.